The dawning of Aquarius

( “Awakenings” , incidentally , is a really touching film recommendation to watch , starring Robin Williams and Robert de Niro – hankies a must , even for the soundtrack alone )

In this random selection of images I can see,

The light dawning… and, lift off !

ORANGE are making their mark on the Spires Arts landscape; planting their younger flag proudly on new more challenging artistic terrain and sending “good vibrations ” back through the PACE creative universe !

A round about way of me saying ” how great this current Spires collective is ! ”

A joy to work with ; eager , as yet unhampered by other external distractions, and always open to try new things.

I call it ” drama hungry ” , hungry like Arctic wolves ….and long may that reign

Tomorrow sees Orange take to PAISLEY ABBEY in the 700th Birhday celebrations of Robert 2Nd – King of ancient Scotland – the first of the Stewart Monarchs , from whom we we can trace a bloodline, direct to our present Queen Elizabeth 2nd.

The Grand Royal Celebration will be attended tomorrow morning , by HRH Princess Anne . And along with our cameo performing SPACE House Directors and Deputes : Abby McCann as Marjorie Bruce , Garth Finch as Robert the Bruce , Eleanor Farrelly as Isabella of Mar and Cameron McNee as Walter Stewart ; this band of ORANGE brothers and sisters will be taking to the flag stones of this most majestic and cultured building , to perform their hearts out for Robert and perhaps ” a smile or two of Royal approval”

I know they will do PACE proud and as they move on from this mini event project and Into their follow up text work for this term , will carry with them a sense of real achievement , in how far they have come , in just 3 short weeks of more intensive and focused stage work.

They know the new Spires Warm Up Sheet now, and are putting it into practise every time the enter our Soires space ….they know it all the way to Perfect Stance – a concept of readiness they absolutely understand because of the better knowledge they have gathered along the way.

Something others might take note of , for their own Spires progress; members of Odyssey , Hub , 15Up and Green.

Good theatre practise is not the sole domain of the very experienced, and though there are many of our more experienced groups who have at least a dozen or so shows under their belts; I’m still not sure they really think about things like warming up or keeping theatre journals when they enter Spires.

SPACE and Firefly still come in and wait to be told how to get ready , wait to be energised , and as the best they should by this stage – know better

This move to make you take responsibility for your own progress , through things like the warm up sheet , the blog , the extra culture , the yoga , the perfomance art , the theatre trips , the round about approach is not meant to put you off , but put you more in the picture .

If you aren’t going to take advantage of what’s extra on offer , expect to tick boxes , but don’t expect to expand your horizons and choices .

“The Dawning of Aquarius” , a line from a hit musical song from the 70’s , but something with much bigger significance in the grand scheme of universal good fortune .

A period of prosperity and growth , a golden age for stars ….

I hope more of you decide to open your eyes to the bigger Spires picture Over the coming months , to make coming to PACE more than a weekly drop in , something you file away till next time …

But to start to engage with it in such a more fulfilling way , for you personally .

A way of bringing out your future star potential .

Look up , there’s a lot of stars out there , a lot of people brilliant by design

There’s a lot of stars coming out here too ….shining softly in the black space of our small drama universe ….

“Second star to the right and straight on till morning” ….Peter , had it right , it’s easy when you understand what it is that makes you want to fly …

Easier still when you have the self belief , passion and motivation to lift yourself even higher ….

14 Responses to The dawning of Aquarius

So excited to perform with the cast of orange tomorrow, to look back and see how far we have come and what we have learned is amazing. The progress we have made as a cast and the progress everyone have made individually. So excited to show what we, the cast of orange can do.
Sophie x

I have really enjoyed my experience over the past few weeks creating. Show that hopefully HRH Princess Anne and the Abbey will hold in their hearts for a long time to come. I am very excited for what's to come over the next few months at PACE and plan to soak every opportunity I can to broaden my drama horizons. I also just want to say good luck to all my orange family and have an amazing and memorable show. Meg xxx

Over the past 3 weeks all of the orange cast have tried so hard and our work has paid off! We have all come so far had have a much greater understanding of voice, strength and performance in general. If that is how far we have come in 3 weeks imagine the possibility for what is to come!!
I cannot wait for our royal performance tomorrow, a chance to show off what we have learned!!

Throughout the past 3 weeks all of orange have tried their hardest no matter how tired how stressed we were we all came in with a smile on our faces A Dream in our Hearts and A Goal In Out Brains Lets Make PACE Proud tomorrow Good Luck Everyone Erin xx

Today was an amazing experience for me!! The past three weeks with this group have been brilliant!! I have loved every minute of it!! Performing in front the HRH princess Anne was exciting and nerve wracking!! I loved the feeling of being the ones that get to perform in front of a princess!!
I feel like I have learned so much since the start of orange!! Can't wait for culture Cubs on Sunday
Morgan xx
Morgan

Well done today ORANGE, everyone did so well and I had so much fun!! Over the past few weeks I've learned so much and I would be thrilled to continue with ORANGE next term. Thank you to everyone who made this performance so enjoyable and memorable!!
Freya X

I had so much fun today! I was so nervous before we all went up to perform but once I was up I just thoroughly enjoyed myselfand felt free. We have all learn so much in the past however many weeks that helped us heaps in our performance and will for the rest of our pace days. I'm so excited for new projects and classes. So when we go back to school, and the teacher asks what you did over the break we can say 'Oh you know, nothing much, just performed I front if Princess Anne, no biggey.' Hehe !

Yesterday was a really good experience, it's not every day you get to perform in front of a princess! Before we went on, I just didn't feel nervous but I felt ready and eager… and hungry to go out there and get a positive reaction from the audience. I thought it was a brilliant project and I loved working in such a gorgeous building for the day.
-Lucy x